By Gillian French
(4 / 5)
Possible TW: Characters in the book recall abuse that happened in their past.
Sugaring Off is a young adult book about a girl named Owl and follows her through her family’s maple syrup season. The book is split into 4 parts, each represented by a different grade of syrup. The book turned out to be far more complex than I expected it to be, exploring a large range of topics that really gave the story depth and some things to learn along the way:
making maple syrup
being hard of hearing/deaf
living in a very rural place
people with Native American heritage
woodland wildlife, in particular a family of foxes
history of abuse
learning to stand up for yourself
The book has a bit of a slow feel to it, which I felt matched the rural setting it was in, and it still kept me engaged and reading for long periods. I ended up reading the whole book over the course of two days. I enjoyed the wonderful descriptions, especially about nature. Along the course of story there’s romance, action and drama, so it was a nice blend.
My biggest complaint about this book is that the author tends to drop the pronouns at the beginnings of sentences, so it affected the flow of the book at times for me. This might just be the author’s writing style, and it certainly didn’t keep me from wanting to continue the book, but some people may be put off by this.
Overall I enjoyed reading this book and glad I gave it a chance. I thought Owl was an interesting character and enjoyed seeing her grow over the course of the story.
I received a free copy of this book through the Amazon Vine program, but all opinions I have provided are my own.
